By John Ofikhenua, Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has commenced engagement to borrow $1billion from Afriexim Bank for acquisition of equity in Dangote Refinery.

Its Group Managing Director (GMD), Malam Mele Kyari made this disclosure in an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday. The Nation monitored it from Abuja.

The Nation had reported on Tuesday that he revealed that the value of the Refinery is $19billion, stressing the Corporation will acquire 20 per cent stake in the entity.

He had also noted that NNPC had is already in engagement with banks to lend it the fund for the 20 per cent equity, adding that the fund will not come from the Federal Government.

Read Also: Banks to lend NNPC $3.9b for equity in Dangote Refinery

He did not disclose the other banks that are lending NNPC the balance of the 20 per cent required for the shares since 20 per cent of $19billion is $3.9billion.

Kyari however explained that NNPC has decided to buy equities in Nigerian petroleum refineries that produce over 50,000 barrel per day to guarantee energy security.

According to him, the Corporation will still get the consent of the Federal Executive Council for the deal.
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He revealed that “they (FEC) want us to take less than 20 per cent”.
The NNPC boss said it has been discovered that it can repay the loan in five years

“We have seen you can cash out your investment in five years,” he said.

Agency Reporter

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has debunked news of mass failure in the ongoing 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across the country.

The Head, Public Affairs and Protocol of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

Benjamin said that the news of mass failure was a fluke and a campaign by those whose source of illicit income had been blocked, saying the 2021 performance was not significantly different from those of previous years.

“The board ordinarily would not have reacted to the half-truth being peddled by some disgruntled candidates, who were ill-prepared for the examination.

“And who, true to all expectations, performed below the expectations of their guardians, that the Board had based its questions on the wrong syllabus.

“It is our belief that based on facts on the ground, every right-thinking Nigerian would question the 6,944,368 figure on which the 14 per cent “pass” is based.

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“For instance, in the 2021 UTME, 1, 415,501 registered for both UTME/DE. Out of this figure, 1,340,003 candidates registered for UTME and 75, 498 registered for DE,” he said.

Benjamin however said the truth of the matter was that all UTME questions were based on texts prescribed for the UTME in its syllabus.

According to him, to ensure that its syllabus is accessible to all candidates sittings its examinations, the board made the material available on three platforms.

“The syllabus was issued to candidates through the board’s Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS), the CD which is given to candidates after completion of registration.

“The link https://www.ibass.jamb.gov.ng. as provided with the candidates’ profile code.

“It is not automatic that the NECO/WAEC syllabus should transform into JAMB’s otherwise there would not have been a need for a separate syllabus for the UTME,” he said.

Benjamin added that the UTME was not a school-based neither achievement test but a selection or ranking test which ordinarily does not require a syllabus and as well does not have room for fail or pass as an achievement test.

He further added that the total number of candidates who took the UTME was 1,300,722 with 78 389 candidates absent. (NAN)

Agency Reporter

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has cautioned importers, distributors, healthcare professionals against the importation, distribution and sale of COVID-19 test kits from Peru.

The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, gave the caution in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.

Adeyeye said that the product was considered to be defective by the pharmacovigilance analysis of the agency.

The director-general stressed that the test kits did not meet the required IgG specificity and IgM sensitivity standards.

She said that the Peruvian Directorate of Medicines, Supplies and Drugs (DIGIMED), had ordered the recall of the defective COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test kit.

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According to her, the defective test kit is also said to have produced false positive and negative test results which could sabotage ongoing COVID-19 surveillance efforts.

“The Product name is Coronavirus Disease 2019 Antibody (IgM/IgG) combined test kit, Product Manufacturer is Chinese Medical System Biotechnology Co. Ltd with Lot Number 20200424.

“Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is a type of coronavirus test you do at home and send back to be processed in a laboratory.

“Members of the public in possession of the implicated product are implored to discontinue the sale or use and submit stock to the nearest NAFDAC office,” she said.

She also said that healthcare professionals and consumers are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of this COVID-19 test tit to the nearest NAFDAC office.

Adeyeye encouraged the public to also report through NAFDAC PRASCOR (20543 TOLL FREE from all networks), or via pharmacovigilance@nafdac.gov.ng as well as the NAFDAC ADR e-Reporting platform available at www.nafdac.gov.ng (NAN)

By Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

The Confucius Institute at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State has won the “Chinese Bridge” competition for Nigerian university students.

The competition, organised by the Chinese Embassy, involved the two Confucius Institutes in Nigeria featured Nnamdi Azikiwe University and the University of Lagos.

This year’s edition, which held virtually, saw UNIZIK Confucius Institute, which had won the competition consecutively since 2018, clinching the five top positions to emerge victorious at the exercise.

Winners of the prizes include 1st prize: Ms Agbo Victoria Ene (Nigeria Champion); 2nd prize: Ms Michael Chinecherem, No. 3-cum-2nd prize: Mr. Dike Chinedu; No. 4-cum-3rd prize: Ms. Obiwulu Chidimma and No. 5-cum-3rd prize: Ms. Onyekere Ngozi.

READ ALSO: Philanthropist lifts 10 UNIZIK students

Director of the Institute, Prof. Yu Zhangbao attributed the feat to the commitment of the Chinese and local teachers, students’ diligence and pragmatic stewardship and unflinching support of the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Esimone.

Dr Anas Elochukwu of the Institute hinted that while the winners of 1st and 5th positions were students of Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) at the Institute, those of 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions respectively were of the Chinese Studies department of UNIZIK.

“There were three participants from that department as against two from HSK programme. Also, this year was the first time the Institute had fielded participants from the Chinese Studies department,” he added.

By Moses Emorinken, Abuja

Stakeholders in the health space have stressed that one of the major reasons for Nigeria’s slow economic growth and a low rating for other socio-political indices, is due to its high fertility rate.

While noting that the fertility rate globally and in Nigeria are 2.5 and 5.3 respectively, they advocated for more engagements at the state and local government level in order to reduce the country’s fertility rate, and achieve a 27 percent prevalence in the use of modern contraception across the country.

They also stressed that in order to reduce maternal mortality, unemployment, poverty, insurgency, etc., there is an urgent need for the country to adopt inclusive, equitable, transparent, and qualitative family planning services, in order to move from demographic crisis to demographic transition, and then to demographic dividends.

While speaking during a media dialogue organised by the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP) and Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) in Abuja, Dr Ejike Oji, a Public Health Advocate and Family Planning Champion, said: “Nigeria is in a demographic crisis. Ten years ago, we were shouting at the top of our voices that in ten years’ time, Nigeria will be in a crisis situation, and it is happening now. Our population has grown tremendously since the last time we had our census in 2006. Then, we say we are 140 million. We are now 210 million and still counting.

“The only problem here is that our fertility rate is high and it means we are producing more people than we can take care of at any point in time. A lot of people refer to India and China as being populous countries, and their economies are doing well. But anyone who has been in touch with reality in the past 50 years, will know that China and India were one of the poorest nations of this world, until they did something.

“So, the fertility rate is the problem. The world met in 1991, where the international conference on population and development was held in Cairo. At that time, the world’s total fertility rate was 5.5. The world said – if we need to see progress in human development, we must by 2025 reduce our annual global fertility rate to 2.5. In 2019, the world had attained a fertility rate of 2.5. It means the world has moved in the right direction. Nigeria’s fertility rate is still at 5.3.

“The dependency ratio in Nigeria now is about 85.5 percent. In order words, the people who are producing what other people are eating and using are below 20 percent of the population. 70 percent of our population is under the age of 30.

“This means we have young people who have aspirations in life; some of them have been properly trained, but they don’t have jobs. You also have young people who are incapable of doing any smart jobs because they are uneducated and untrained.

READ ALSO: FACT CHECK: Do COVID-19 vaccines hamper fertility in unmarried women?

“So, because the aspirations of the youths have been blunted, they will seek greener pastures to a country where they feel they can do some good. Also, because of the youthful bulge in the country, religious, traditional and political bigots recruit those young ones to perpetuate their evils.”

He added: “Nigeria made a commitment that by 2020 we will increase our annual modern contraception to 27 percent. We pushed it to 2024. Now the global move is to 2030. Nigeria’s commitment should be grounded in available data and evidence.

“Also, male involvement through the traditional and religious leaders is paramount. Once you tell the Pastor or Imam, once they tell the men, the men will go to their various homes to implement it.”

In his presentation on the Hewlett Voices Project, Dr Okai Haruna, Director of Advocacy and Business Development for Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN), said: “The Project seeks to educate the communities about family planning, because there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about it.

“We moved from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We really did not know that to achieve MDGs, we must address family planning because it is the most cost effective way.

“When we talk about family planning, people tend to look more towards women than men; reproductive health is for both sexes. It is important to take advocacy work about family planning to the subnational level. This is because the federal level alone cannot achieve this.”